| المستخلص: |
The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effect of using the task-based learning (TBL) model adapted from Willis (1996a; 1996b) on developing the composition writing skills of the first-year prep students and on their attitudes towards EFL writing. To achieve this purpose, the researcher constructed and validated a teaching program based on the adapted TBL model, a composition writing test and an attitude scale towards EFL writing. The sample of the study involved two classes (sixty-six students) from amongst the first-year prep students at one of the public prep schools in Sohag Govemorate (Ali Ibn Abi Taleb Prep School for Boys in Edfa). They were randomly selected and assigned to an experimental group and a control one. Both groups were pre¬tested using the composition writing test and the attitude scale. Then, the experimental group students were taught writing using the adapted TBL model while the control group students were taught writing according to the teaching steps included in the Teacher's Guide issued by the Ministry of Education. After the application of the program, both study groups were post-tested using the same tools utilized in the pre-testing. \\ Findings of the study regarding the students' composition writing skills showed a significant difference between both groups on the composition writing test favoring the experimental group. Regarding the students' attitudes towards EFL writing, findings revealed that the students of the \\ \\ experimental group who were taught writing by the adapted TBL model showed more positive attitudes towards EFL writing than the students of the control group. Based on these findings, it was recommended that: (a) the natural learning environment should be given more attention in EFL classrooms through optimizing some conditions such as exposure to comprehensible input, use of language, motivation, and instruction which contribute to effective learning; (b) writing should ' be given more attention in the foreign language programs through allocating more space in the prescribed textbook and on timetables of the prep stage instruction; (c) EFL teachers at various educational levels should be trained in the implementation of the adapted task-based learning model in their teaching; and (d) evaluation of writing should be focused on areas like the content and organization as well as the mechanics and grammatical e
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